1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a device that can be used to reduce the difficulty in dressing and transferring disabled and/or incapacitated people. In particular, the present invention relates to a device that permits those attending disabled or incapacitated people to easily move, dress and conduct hygienic cleaning of the disabled or incapacitated person. More particularly, the present invention is a device used to move such a person from a sitting position and to orient that person so that, at most, only one attendant is needed to conduct the move, dressing, and/or cleaning.
2. Description of Prior Art.
Attending to a disabled or incapacitated person, hereafter referred to as a "patient," has long been a labor-intensive and difficult task. Because such patients are not capable of standing or walking by themselves they require assistance while dressing, moving to a wheel chair, getting up from a chair, a seat or a bed and using the bathroom. Because patients often have little strength to move themselves, those assisting them must bear a substantial portion and sometimes the full body weight of the patient to complete the task at hand. Often, moving the full weight of a patient is impossible for a single attendant to safely accomplish. Hence, attendants and patients need a device that assists them in their needs.
Conventional technology to lift or transfer patients often employs complex hoist mechanisms that use sling-like members to hold patients. These devices are complex, often employing hydraulic, electrical and mechanical systems that are costly. Typically, such devices permitting the move to be conducted by a single attendant are stationary devices, or at least very difficult to move from one location to another. Further, they are usually impractical, or too costly, to install outside institutions like hospitals and nursing homes. This is particularly troubling for those patients who are cared for at home by spouses, relatives, and other attendants, where use of an easily-transportable transferring device would be particularly helpful.
Attempts have been made to provide simple, less-costly patient-transferring devices. However, these devices have not met the need for a truly easy-to-use, inexpensive, and mobile transferring device that assists attendants in accomplishing the tasks faced when caring for patients.
One example of such a device is disclosed by Hayakawa et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,003. Hayakawa describes a transfer device having a base assembly, an actuation lever assembly, and a single pivotal support shaft. A saddle is mounted on one end of the support shaft. This assembly-the pivotal support shaft and saddle-is used to support the patient during the transfer. Since the device employs a single support shaft, very high-strength-and, consequently, heavy and expensive materials-must be used in its construction, so as to provide the strength necessary to support the weight of the patient and to ensure stability of the apparatus while the patient is being moved or turned.
Another example of a transferring or transporting device is disclosed by Lerich (U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,863). Lerich describes a device having a base with a support projecting upwardly therefrom, a chest pad, and a linkage assembly coupling the chest pad and the support. The base of the device is mounted on wheels. Uke Hayakawa, the Lerich device employs one support to bear the weight of the patient while the patient is being lifted from a seated position. Further, the Lerich support is located to one side of the device. Since the device employs a side-mounted single-support-shaft design, very high-strength, heavy, and expensive materials must be used in its construction to provide the strength to support the weight of the patient and to provide stability of the apparatus while the patient is being moved.
The prior devices have additional drawbacks. Even when made of strong and expensive materials, they are inherently unstable and therefore potentially unsafe. The support mechanisms of the prior art rely on single shafts which are apt to cause the device to tip on its side under any non-symmetrical loading, thus throwing the patient off. Further, the prior devices noted offer little or no structure upon which patient guides, handles, or holding devices may be attached. An improved device would ensure that patients would be guided to the center of the device so as to lessen the possibility of the device tipping to one side.
In addition, the prior transfer devices fall to provide the capability for self use. Such capability is particularly important when patients live at home and when they have a limited capacity to move. A device that significantly reduces the force required by the individual conducting the transfer to move the patient from a sitting position to a position on the device is thus required. That reduction in required force can be provided by the design of the device itself, or by an automated actuation mechanism acting either in conjunction with the individual's effort or as a stand-alone operational feature. In this way, some patients may be able to eliminate or significantly decrease the need for assistance from attendants, thus reducing the time attendants need to spend with patients (and the consequent expenses) while at the same time regaining a sense of independence.
Prior devices that provide more stable support, such as the systems described by Winston (U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,944) and Thorne (U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,633), also fall to provide structures convenient for dressing patients. In particular, there are often leg or trunk support means that make a single attendant's task of removing and putting on pants, for example, extremely difficult. Further, neither system noted enables a less-than-totally incapacitated patient to operate the device alone.
A more effective transferring device would provide a stable and lightweight support mechanism so as to ensure patient safety and comfort. Such a support mechanism would provide a structure that ensured equal distribution of the patient load so as to minimize the possibility of the device tipping over. The support mechanism would also provide means to reliably guide a patient on to the device as well as easy means for an attendant to do that guiding. Further, such a device would be designed so as to provide effective access to the patient's lower body in order to ease the job of dressing that patient. Still further, an effective transfer device would be inexpensive and portable so that the device could be used in the home and also transported with the patient in his or her travels away from the home. Additionally, an improved and effective device would permit the patient to use it without the assistance of an attendant. The prior-art transferring devices have failed to employ such features. Therefore, there is a need for a lightweight and inexpensive device employing such features, a device that is stable, strong and portable.